"Lead the Beggar Sect in an attack on the Ming Cult?"
When Wu Que and Nightingale pretended to return and Huang Shang introduced them, they were delighted.
In fact, as early as when Wang Jiantong and the other two snuck into the Taoist temple, Wu Que and Nightingale had immediately returned from outside.
The Taoist temple had long been surrounded by a magic array, monitoring Huang Shang's every move,
This had been Nightingale's doing at Wu Que's request. Huang Shang was his cherished possession, and he would never allow outsiders to lay a finger on him.
Neither characters from the story nor Reincarnators were allowed.
But they hadn't expected that when the Beggar Sect came seeking help, Huang Shang would recommend them.
On reflection, this was surely a sign that their favorability had reached a certain level.
Nightingale laughed aloud, and Wu Que opened his fan and gave it a wave.
It was a pity that the Main God Temple couldn't quantify favorability in clear numbers. That would have made things even more convenient.
Of course, the best part was that this really was a good job.
In the eyes of Reincarnators, story factions with large memberships and eyes and ears throughout the land, like the Beggar Sect, were well worth cultivating.
Whether completing missions, farming rewards, or clashing with hostile Reincarnators, having the Beggar Sect's help would give them a huge advantage.
They'd already planned to go after the Ming Cult. Now they could also earn the Beggar Sect's friendship—two birds with one stone. Why wouldn't they?
But there was a downside.
Wu Que looked at Huang Shang, worry in his eyes.
With two sects going to war, this trip wouldn't be over in just a day or two.
Huang Shang usually kept to himself and buried his nose in the sages' books. He was a well-behaved boy.
Under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be a problem.
What worried Wu Que was the possibility of something unexpected happening.
As he hesitated, Huang Shang rose and bowed. "For the people of Yong Prefecture, and for the stability of Jinghu South Circuit, I'm counting on you!"
People of the jianghu loved to bandy about phrases like "for the country and its people."
Lay a big moral burden on someone, and if they refused, they weren't a citizen of the Great Song.
But one had to admit, this kind of moral blackmail worked.
Now Huang Shang had invoked all of Jinghu South Circuit. With words like that, the two couldn't refuse.
Wu Que could only clasp his hands and say firmly, "Rest easy, younger brother. We won't fail in our mission!"
As they prepared to leave, Nightingale began setting up protections around the Taoist temple. She repeated her instructions over and over: if enemies came, stay inside the temple and don't step beyond the boundary.
Watching her, Huang Shang suddenly thought of Wukong drawing a circle around Tang Sanzang with his staff, only for Tang Sanzang to run outside it every time.
Come to think of it, it was already the second half of this year back on Earth...
Rescue was urgent, so everyone moved swiftly and set off at once. Nightingale kept looking back and waving to Huang Shang, while Wu Que's expression darkened. A sudden, uneasy feeling came over him, and he wanted nothing more than to return to Huang Shang's side immediately.
But he soon suppressed the urge.
Before they made a contract, they couldn't stay together forever, after all.
A little distance between them might be a good thing.
Of course, distance was one thing, but Wu Que contacted Tu Xingsun at once.
That bastard had taken three thousand Reincarnation Points from them. Under the contract, he had to do the job.
Having him come and keep an eye on Huang Shang would ensure there were no lapses.
"That Reincarnator who can burrow underground might come watch over me. Fortunately, the Beggar Sect's call for help came out of nowhere, so they couldn't have prepared in advance. There'll definitely be a window of time. I should leave now."
Huang Shang watched as the two Reincarnators and three characters from the story departed together, then immediately returned to his guest room to pack.
Soon, he'd tied up a few loose ends. Avoiding the others at the Taoist temple, he left Yong Prefecture alone and set off.
Compared to the scholar who six months ago couldn't even truss a chicken, Huang Shang had now opened all twelve orthodox meridians, and his innate energy surged through him. He could handle nine out of ten people in the jianghu without a problem.
After all, ordinary martial artists made up the true backbone of the entire martial world, not peerless prodigies.
He had the confidence to travel the land.
Huang Shang had already planned where he would go.
It was September. The Provincial Examination had ended not long ago, and the second round, the Departmental Examination, would be held in February next year. He had to reach Kaifeng Prefecture by January.
That gave him about four months.
He'd already chosen where to go on his journey of study.
Not north. Quite the opposite: he was heading south.
Jinghu South Circuit was what later generations would call Hunan. Below Hunan lay Guangdong and Guangxi.
The division of Liangguang had begun in the Northern Song, when the region was split into Guangnan East Circuit and Guangnan West Circuit. These names were later shortened to Guangdong and Guangxi.
But this wasn't the Southern Song yet. The Han people hadn't migrated south in great numbers, and Guangnan East Circuit and Guangnan West Circuit could be called the most desolate parts of the Great Song.
Exiled to Guangnan? That was a fate worth looking into.
But Huang Shang was very interested in the region.
He'd seen the prosperity of Kaifeng Prefecture, but hadn't yet seen the borders.
And to the south of the Great Song lay two countries.
Dali and Jiaozhi.
There was no need to say much about Dali. Duan Zhengchun was probably still in the bloom of youth, not yet out and about making advances on women.
On a related note, in the original story, Duan Zhengchun was mistaken for the ringleader. It made no sense.
The battle at Yanmen Pass had taken place thirty years ago. How old had Duan Zhengchun been back then? Could a twenty-year-old have commanded the martial world's heroes and been their ringleader?
All one could say was that Xiao Feng had been too close to the situation to see clearly, while A'zhu had fallen victim to the plot.
What a pity that the promise of cattle and sheep beyond the pass had come to nothing.
Dali was too weak to pose any threat to the Great Song, but Jiaozhi was different.
Later generations would know it as Vietnam. Its borders were based on the Jiaozhi of the Song dynasties, and it would eventually become a nation by annexing Champa and raiding Song territory.
Could the Great Song really not defeat a mere small country?
Of course it could.
It was simply that the Song prioritized the north over the south and couldn't spare the attention.
As the Great Song fought the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia, Jiaozhi quietly grew stronger, constantly encroaching on and eating away at the Song's borders.
But the Great Song had long clung to a policy of appeasement and retreat, taking no forceful measures in response. That only emboldened Jiaozhi.
At last, in the history of more than ten years later, Jiaozhi's army would breach Yong Prefecture in Guangxi and massacre a hundred thousand people, more than ninety thousand of them civilians.
In fact, the Great Song would win that war, but at a terrible cost. Then, when the borders were demarcated, it would still lose a great deal of land...
Huang Shang felt that with the Northern Song's military strength as it stood, it wasn't realistic to try to destroy Western Xia and the Liao Kingdom.
You had to eat your meals one bite at a time and take your road one step at a time.
First, destroy Jiaozhi and remove the threat at the Great Song's southern flank.
This wasn't an unrealistic ambition, either. By the time of the Departmental Examination and Palace Examination, he could no longer just try to guess what the examiners liked. His policy essays would need substance, and he'd also have to figure out what the Son of Heaven wanted.
Developing Liangguang and pacifying Jiaozhi would be an excellent point of entry.
"Since the Treaty of Chanyuan, the two dynasties have forgotten war and laid down their weapons. Things always swing from one extreme to the other, and this state of affairs is about to end."
"The pro-war faction is about to rise. This is the perfect opportunity."
"Once Jiaozhi is pacified, peace will come not only to Liangguang, but to both Jinghu circuits as well. This region is perfectly situated, connected to Shu Region in the north and Jiangnan in the south. Its soil and water are both first-rate. With good governance, it could become a granary in ten years."
To read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles.
For ordinary scholars, much of their knowledge and network came from traveling to study.
Huang Shang was different.
He already had knowledge from later generations.
His task was to combine a modern person's knowledge with this world and this dynasty, setting aside any preconceived misconceptions.
As he sat aboard a boat drifting downstream, the main arguments for his policy essay had already taken shape.
But while Huang Shang was considering his essays for the Departmental and Palace Examinations, his attention also rested on a middle-aged scholar standing at the bow.
The man stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the scenery on both banks, but Huang Shang sensed that the scholar had come for him.
Another Reincarnator?
Or...
Before you continue